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Monthly Archives: August 2013

This is a Glimakra band loom, a loom that weaves a narrow band of cloth, up to five inches wide.

Why?

Do I need that many bands?

Actually, I do.

There are lanyards, belts, sandal straps (for Sseko sandals), apron ties, ribbons for gifts, and ties for pretty bundles of things…the list goes on. Most of these are narrow things, maybe no more than an inch wide.

I could use an inkle loom. In fact I have an Ashford Inklette. There’s something about an inkle loom that is uncomfortable for me. I’ve never found a good posture for holding one, and I always feel like I need another hand when I weave on one. Not so with this loom. I sit facing the side of it, with a shuttle in my left hand and a band knife (picture a dull cake knife) in my right hand, for beating the weft. One foot on each treadle. I can weave yards of warp-patterned bands this way.

In fact, I have woven two lanyards, a pair of sandal straps, which are each two yards long, ties for an apron, and a couple of miscellaneous lengths for pretty bundles of things.

The Texsolv heddles are wonderfully quiet. I could refit my floor loom with them. It might make the treadling a little lighter and a little quieter. Jack looms are never completely quiet, and there is still a lot of hardware that gets lifted on each shaft.

Maybe, just maybe, it’s time for a big, silent, totally adaptable Glimakra Standard loom to join the household. If any of my readers know of one for sale in western/central MA or environs, let’s talk about it.

I found a wicker chair that fits into the front of the loom, and was able to thread the loom in total comfort.

This time, I threaded a very simple monk’s belt pattern. It can be woven a variety of ways: stripes, checkerboard or intermittent ribbons.

When I weave freestyle over the framework of a traditional pattern, I am reminded of a palimpsest, a manuscript that was mostly erased and then overwritten. The shadows of the past are seen in glimpses and they color the image in subtle ways.